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The Internal Revenue Service would face a “devastating” loss of $4 billion in revenue collected each year if proposed cuts of up to $600 million are made from the agency’s budget, Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union warned Wednesday.

While the cuts might mean savings on the front end, they would result in far less money available for every federal agency the public depends on for services, she said, including responsible for the health and safety of the public. Keep reading →

The U.S. Postal Service is facing a dire financial crisis, but it is not alone. The postal services of other nations also have felt the impact of electronic communications and private sector competition, and have been undergoing significant transformations.

Germany and the Netherlands have embraced privatization. Great Britain is moving slowly in that direction with its Royal Mail. The postal services in Australia and Canada have no Saturday delivery, and other countries are reaching the inevitable conclusion that mail service has to change. Keep reading →

The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) data mining systems need additional oversight, review and evaluation to protect privacy rights, ensure transparency to the public and enable effective counterterrorism efforts, stated the General Accountability Office (GAO) in a report released last week.

Of six component agency data mining systems evaluated, “none performed all of the key activities associated with an effective evaluation framework…Only one program office performed most of the activities related to obtaining executive review and approval,” said the report. “Until such reforms are in place, DHS and its component agencies may not be able to ensure that critical data mining systems used in support of counterterrorism are both effective and that they protect personal privacy.” Keep reading →


COMMENTARY: Nearly three million men and women have volunteered to serve in our armed forces since the attacks of September 11, 2001. These soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen left their families and risked their lives to fight for our freedoms overseas. They should not have to fight for a job when they come home.

That is why the president has championed the American Jobs Act, and why the Congress should pass his plan with urgent speed. It will help our veterans, who are just back from war, find a job. And it will give strength and stability to American families and communities. Keep reading →

When the last space shuttle landed back on Earth in July, it appeared as though NASA’s manned space exploration may be grounded for good. Actually, 60 American astronauts are deep in training for future missions.

“We’re very much alive,” said Dr. Michael Barratt, 52, a physician and space medicine specialist who’s flown two missions and hopes to go up in space again. Keep reading →

A program begun on a shoe string a year ago to help federal agencies tap a broader universe of creative ideas to solve some of the government’s toughest challenges has spawned a surprising, if not revolutionary, wave of innovation in government – and at a fraction of the cost most agencies would traditionally spend to achieve similar results. Keep reading →

The battle between the public and private sectors to attract top talent often boils down to workplace intangibles such as work/life balance. And few efforts to improve that balance have attracted more attention within the federal government than telework.

Permitting more federal employees to skip the commute and work from home isn’t just an act of good will to attract and retain employees. It also boils down to smart economics. The General Services Administration estimates that if federal workers telecommuted at least one day per week, federal agencies could increase productivity by more than $2.3 billion annually. Agencies could also save potentially billions more on office space, electricity and supplies. Keep reading →

A survey report released today of the CIOs of 48 states, the District of Columbia and two territories shows this to be a year of evolving roles, changing capabilities and trying workloads for IT executives. The result: a new, dynamic environment for CIOs consisting of four Cs – clout, change, collaboration and consolidation. Keep reading →

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has found an innovative way to address a shortage of trained acquisition professionals, growing contracting complexities and a need to curb waste, fraud and abuse for itself and other federal agencies.

Since September 2008, the VA has operated its own Acquisition Academy – a school built from the ground up to train a new generation of procurement officers to handle the agency’s $16 billion annual procurement budget. Keep reading →


This column originally appeared at GovWin.com.

On September 14, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Jacob Lew issued a formal memorandum to all government agencies to speed up payments to their vendors. This measure, as part of the Prompt Payment Act (PPA), is helpful even though it appears on the surface to be targeted toward helping the struggling economy. Keep reading →

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